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A Colourful History, Adelaide (2026)

23/04/2026

A Timeless Voice from Australia’s Past

I’ve always loved classical music, but after spending most of this afternoon listening to Dame Nellie Melba, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for her extraordinary voice. There’s something about it that feels deeply nostalgic, as though it stirs memories from another time. Perhaps I heard her music as a child, because her singing evokes such a warm, familiar feeling that’s hard to explain. It’s easy to understand why audiences around the world were captivated by her.

Dame Nellie Melba, born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne in 1861, became one of the most famous sopranos of her time. She was the eldest surviving child of builder David Mitchell and Isabella Dow, and she got her father’s determination and her mother’s love of music. Although she wasn’t seen as a child prodigy, her remarkable voice soon stood out, and she studied singing and piano at Melbourne’s Presbyterian Ladies’ College.

Melba married Charles Armstrong in Brisbane in 1882 and had a son, but she left an unhappy marriage in Mackay to start a professional singing career in Melbourne. With help from her teacher Pietro Cecchi, she made her debut at Melbourne Town Hall in 1884 and quickly stood out for her talent. In 1886, she went to Europe, where the well-known vocal teacher Mathilde Marchesi helped her improve her technique and suggested she use the stage name “Melba,” after her home city.

Melba’s big break came in Brussels in 1887 when she sang Gilda in Rigoletto. She found more success in Paris and London, especially at the Royal Opera House, where she became one of Covent Garden’s top stars. She also performed at La Scala and in New York, singing for royalty and world leaders across Europe. Melba was famous for roles like Mimi in La Bohème, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Gilda, and she was known for the purity, range, and beauty of her voice.

Away from the stage, Melba was glamorous, ambitious, and very protective of her reputation. Her personal life often made headlines, especially her relationship with Philippe, Duke of Orleans, which sparked a well-known divorce scandal. Even though some parts of the press criticised her, Australians welcomed her home in 1902 as a national icon when she embarked on a very successful concert tour.

In the early 1900s, Melba stayed at the top of the opera world and grew closer to Australia. She toured remote towns, set up Coombe Cottage near Melbourne as her home, and got very involved in music education. By supporting the Albert Street Conservatorium, later called the Melba Memorial Conservatorium, she helped train a new generation of Australian singers. She also published The Melba Method in 1926.

During World War I, Melba raised substantial funds for war charities by giving concerts and embarking on fundraising tours. Even as her voice aged, she stayed very popular and gave farewell performances throughout the 1920s in Europe and Australia. Her last opera performances in Australia were in 1928.

Melba died in Sydney in 1931 from septicaemia after surgery complications.

If you’re curious and would like to listen to Dame Nellie Melba, check out the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_NCWLKPKmg

The original of the enhanced photograph was taken circa 1922, and it is sourced from the State Library of South Australia (PRG 280/1/30/162). The image has been enhanced using AI and Photoshop; it was colourised in Photoshop.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/melba-dame-nellie-7551

https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+280/1/30/162

Sources: With thanks to the State Library of South Australia, Jim Davidson, 'Melba, Dame Nellie (1861–1931)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/melba-dame-nellie-7551/text13175, published first in hardcopy 1986, accessed online 23 April 2026, and YouTube, Opera Buff

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement, and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

23/04/2026

PORT LINCOLN, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Circa 1911

You know what they say, as pretty as a picture. A century ago in Port Lincoln, a little girl stood on the footpath outside the Post and Telegraph Office. Wicker baskets and crates are stacked on the wide verandah, and two boys are posting a letter. This scene offers a vivid glimpse of daily life in 1911.

The Post and Telegraph Office on Tasman Terrace was the hub of Port Lincoln’s communications in the early twentieth century. Telegrams were sent across the country, and letters boarded mail ships bound for Adelaide and beyond. The sturdy gabled building served the community until it was remodelled in the early 1960s. During renovations, the postal service moved to temporary premises nearby. The redeveloped Post Office reopened in July 1962, marking a new era for the town.

To explore more about the remodelled post office from February 1962, click the link below and read the featured article.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/29959785

Sources: State Library of South Australia, Photograph of Port Lincoln Post Office, c.1911, Bourne photo, B4447, State Library of South Australia, related images of Port Lincoln Post and Telegraph Office (B4448, PRG 280/1/26/12), West Coast Recorder (Port Lincoln), 1 November 1911, 'Port Lincoln Post Office';Trove, Port Lincoln Times, reports of temporary relocation and redevelopment of the Post Office, 1962;Trove

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement, and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

22/04/2026

RENMARK, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1889

Taking us back to a time when Renmark looked very different.

On the left, under construction, are Chaffey’s Offices, while W.H. Harvey’s general store sits at the centre of the scene.

According to the Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (4 February 1921, p.5, “Old Renmark Days”), one of the first buildings erected in the town was constructed by Messrs. Henry John and Fred Oldham (father of Hugh), at the northern corner of Renmark and Ral Ral Avenues. Another early structure was Harvey’s store, which is what you are looking at. This store later became the precursor to the old Co-operative Store and the Sales Cash Store, and played an important role in the town’s early development. Notably, Renmark’s first post office operated from within Harvey’s store. At that time, the mail coach did not travel directly to Renmark, and mail bags had to be collected from the Ral Ral mail change, approximately ten miles away.

The post office remained in Harvey’s store until the construction of a dedicated building in 1892, when Mr J. J. Mackenzie was appointed postmaster. Even then, the new facility was considered inadequate to meet the town's growing needs.

Also visible in the photograph are Chaffey’s Offices, which formed the administrative centre of the irrigation settlement established in the late 1880s by George Chaffey and William Benjamin Chaffey. From these offices, the Chaffey Brothers managed land sales, irrigation infrastructure, and the coordination of settlers, playing a central role in the planning and early development of the township.

Sources: The State Library of South Australia, Australian Dictionary of Biography, entries for George Chaffey and William Benjamin Chaffey and Trove.

https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+1640

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

21/04/2026

MIDDLETON, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
1952

The little shop on Main Road at Middleton reads like a map of local life: baker, grocer, and draper by day, with a petrol bowser out the front for holiday traffic and fishermen’s runs. For decades, it was a community hub, a place where orders were taken, gossip exchanged, and supplies for seaside life were bought and packed into baskets. The State Library captures the description of this photograph perfectly: the sign announcing O. W. Hughes business, the pump in front, and the open paddock beside it that would later become the Middleton Caravan Park.

O. W. and H. E. Hughes ran the shop for approximately thirty years before selling it in 1957 to Cecil and Violet Frances Gregory. The Gregories kept it for only a short time, selling it to Campbell Reid of Coomandook in February 1959. By the turn of the 21st century, the building and its business had evolved again to meet Middleton’s role as a holiday town, the caravan park next door, the steady flow of summer visitors, and changes in post and fuel services all reshaped the site, but the shop remained central to daily life.

Sources: State Library of South Australia

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2025. All image editing, enhancement, and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

21/04/2026

Meet Mary Ann Newman, known for her role in the early success of Newman’s Nursery, established in 1856. Born in Adelaide on 25 October 1838, Mary Ann (née Bales) grew up helping her father at the Tea Tree Gully Inn, where she later met and married Charles Newman in 1857.

Together, they cultivated a flourishing market garden, supplying fresh produce to Adelaide. Renowned for her refined style, Mary Ann was often seen wearing elegant bonnets and fine jewellery.

Source: The original black and white image was with thanks to Newman's Nursery

https://newmansnursery.com.au/about/

20/04/2026

STEPNEY, ADELAIDE, 1923

Some photos make you stop and look closer. At first, this one seems like just another street scene, but then you notice there’s more to it.

Now picture it properly. Like the photographer, you are on the balcony of the Maid and Magpie Hotel. To your left runs Magill Road, with Fullarton Road branching further left. To your right, Payneham Road stretches away. And straight ahead, along North Terrace, a tram is approaching you, heading toward the hotel.

It’s where roads meet, where people and their lives cross paths.

For me, the row of shops on the right is what draws me in. In my childhood, I rode the Paradise bus along Payneham Road. Those shops were a marker; you knew you were getting close to the city. I didn’t know their story then, but they always felt like they had one.

That row of shops is known as the Bon Marche Building, standing prominently on the College Park side of Payneham Road. Long before shops and traffic, this land formed part of the College Town Estate. In 1839, Governor George Gawler granted fifteen acres here to William Dixon and Henry Anthony. For years, it remained mostly farmland, open and quiet, until the push of suburban growth began to reshape it in the 1860s.

By 1866, the land had been subdivided, and over the 1870s, Adelaide expanded rapidly. Migration increased, families grew, and new suburbs took hold. College Park emerged as one of them, promoted as a place of “superior” suburban villas for city workers. And as people arrived, so did the need for shops and services.

By the early 1880s, the Maid and Magpie had already been remodelled and was a well established landmark. Directly opposite, development began on a substantial row of commercial premises.

The Bon Marche Building did not appear all at once; it grew with the suburb around it. Around 1883, the first corner shops were built. By about 1895, expansion followed as demand increased. Then, around 1897, the row was extended, creating the long façade that still defines the corner today. Built of stone and brick in a late Victorian style with Italianate influence, it was both practical and quietly impressive.

But it’s not just the architecture that holds your attention; it’s the people who passed through.

Over the years, these shops housed a mix of trades that reflected everyday life at the time: George Blackeby, boot manufacturer; Joseph Allen, saddler; the East Adelaide Timber Company; Thomas King, coachbuilder; Good and Rechner, drapers; and John Jackson, hairdresser. Each one left its mark, layering the building with stories.

By 1903, an advertisement in The Register proudly described it as “the fine pile of shops known as THE BON MARCHE…”, a name that had clearly taken hold, and for me still does.

And somewhere among those shopfronts was Moore & Binks, chemists.

It’s easy to picture it. A narrow frontage with bottles lining the shelves, the faint scent of liniments and tonics in the air, and a dispensing room tucked behind the counter. Locals would have stepped inside for remedies, advice, or simply a familiar face.

Outside, life went on. Trams rattled down North Terrace. Horses slowly disappeared as cars took over. Across the street, the Maid and Magpie Hotel stood firm, witnessing all these changes.

And somehow, all of that is still captured in this one photograph.

If you would like to read more about the Bon Marche Building, check out the link below:

https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/11188_Research.pdf

Sources: With thanks to the State Library of South Australia, Carolyn Wigg, Margaret Sanders, Trove

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

20/04/2026

HOLOWILIENA STATION, VIA CRADOCK, FLINDERS RANGES, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

There’s something quietly special about revisiting an old photograph.

The last time I worked on this little image was back in 2022, when COVID still shaped our days, and the world felt very different. Picking it up again today, I realised just how much has changed. Not only around us, but in what we learn, how we see, and the way we bring these fragments of the past back to life. Four years on, with new skills under my belt, I felt drawn to try again. The original will be in the comments, and I’d genuinely love to know, do you think I’ve improved? And it does make me wonder, what might my work look like by 2030?

This photograph takes us to Holowiliena Station, via Cradock in the Flinders Ranges, one of those places where history isn’t just remembered, it’s still lived. My thanks go to Luke and Frances, the current custodians, who have generously shared these images and their family story.

Holowiliena holds a rare distinction. It remains the only pastoral lease in South Australia still held by descendants of the original lessees. Generation after generation, now stretching into the fourth, fifth and sixth, has continued to care for this remarkable property.

That story begins with William and Jennett Warwick, who arrived in 1839 from Scotland with three young children. Like so many early arrivals, they began with farm work near Gawler, before William was offered management of Canowie Station. Encouraged to find land of their own, the family, now ten children strong, set out in 1852 for the Flinders Ranges.

Jennett, the girls, and the younger children remained at Arkaba, while William and his older sons pushed further north to establish a foothold. There, at a place now known as Yak, they built a simple hut. Isolation would have been absolute. And yet, this is where their story took root.

By 1855, with twelve children in total, William and Jennett began work on what would become the Holowiliena homestead, a requirement of their pastoral lease, but also a declaration of permanence. Over time, they added outbuildings crafted from the land itself, stone, timber, lime, structures that still speak of endurance and ingenuity.

The photograph truly stayed with me.

The image shows a humble little pine-and-pug cottage, softened by time, slightly blurred, and damaged, as so many early photographs are. And yet, it holds such presence.

Thanks to Frances Frahn, I can tell you that, standing in front of the cottage in 1920, are Edith, her great-grandmother, along with Thomas Warrick and little Loriot.

The cottage itself clearly meant something special. It’s one of Frances’ favourites, and beautifully, it has now been restored by Frances and Luke. Their work even featured on the television programme Restoration Australia.

https://www.facebook.com/Holowiliena

Source: Holowiliena Station, Ancestry and Find My Past websites.

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

19/04/2026

VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, c. 1937

Ocean Street once looked very different than it does today.

At number 27 stood a grand old building: the Central Hotel, also known as the Central Guesthouse. It rose three storeys above the street.

The Central was built where the Guildford Guesthouse once stood, carrying on a long tradition of hospitality there. It was located between the Avondale Deli and the Coffee Palace, right in the centre of town. Visitors would arrive, stay awhile, and watch Victor Harbor grow.

Yet the Central was more than just a place to stay. At one time, it was advertised as Victor Harbor’s “Outstanding Temperance Hotel,” showing that people could enjoy their holidays without alcohol but still have all the comforts they wanted.

Much of what made the Central unique came from the work of local tradesmen. Among them was William Horace Overall, known as Bill, a lifelong local whose story also intertwines with the town’s wider history.

Bill was born in Milang and grew up on a small dairy farm during a time of change. He witnessed the arrival of the first motor car, tractor, and milking machine in the district, all of which transformed rural life. Later, in 1919, when his family moved to Victor Harbor, he attended the local school and subsequently worked as a telegram messenger at the post office.

As Bill found his way into carpentry, he first apprenticed with Mr Taidreu and then Roy Milton, gaining skills in both plan drawing and construction. His craftsmanship became part of the fabric of the Central Guesthouse. During construction, a small, very human story is even recorded: while working on the second-floor balcony, Bill fell to the footpath below but, luckily, only sprained his ankle.

As time went by, change continued. By the late twentieth century, the Central, like many other old buildings, was gone. It was demolished, just as the Guildford Guesthouse had been before, to make way for something new. In this case, a bank replaced what once was a three-storey guesthouse, now unrecognised by most people walking by, despite its history of welcoming visitors over the years.

Sources: With thanks to the State Library of South Australia (B23731), Kerryn Bickley, Trove various articles, ABC article, ‘Victor Harbor lost guesthouses’ (link below):

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-17/victor-harbor-lost-guesthouses/103292424

https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+23731

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All image editing, enhancement and colourisation is subject to copyright. You are welcome to share this post, but the image alone cannot be copied or shared without permission.

18/04/2026

Our ancestry often shapes the people we become. For the Newman family, that story lives on through the much-loved Newman’s Nursery, a place I’ve personally spent many hours wandering and appreciating.
Please note: reel uses AI to reimagine and bring history to life.

18/04/2026

TEA TREE GULLY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, c. 1900-1910

Did you know that Tea Tree Gully wasn’t always called that?

Originally, it was known as Steventon, a name that’s largely slipped from memory but sits right at the heart of the area’s early story.

Its location was not by chance. Natural springs ran through the gully, making it an important stop for travellers along the North East Road. In this landscape, reliable water meant everything. People paused, rested, and eventually chose to stay.

European settlement began here in 1837, drawn by rich land and fresh water. Two years later, after formal surveys, the land was divided and sold. It was quickly taken up for crops, orchards, and grazing.

The name Steventon came from John Stevens, a prominent landholder in the area. Over time, though, the landscape itself reshaped the place's identity. The steep gully, thick with native tea trees, gave rise to the name we know today, Tea Tree Gully.

And then there are the people in this photograph. One may well be W. H. Stevens, a link back to those early days, but the others remain unnamed. Like so many faces from the past, their identities have faded, even as their presence still lingers in the story.

As for who these people are, I’m guessing one is W. H. Stevens; as for the rest, sadly, their names have been lost to time for the moment.

Sources: The original of this photograph was provided by The City of Tea Tree Gully (TTGPH 00370). Information comes from a Local History Walking Guide for Tea Tree Gully. Link below:

https://www.walkingsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Local-History-walking-guide-notes.pdf

This image has been enhanced in Photoshop and Topaz.

Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History

Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026. All rights to editing, enhancement, and colourisation reserved. You may share this post, but not the image alone without permission.

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